Marina DE FRANCESCHINI

(in cooperation with the University of Trento, Genova, Italy)

Outline: Finding the best way to archive, process and retrieve an enormous amount of data coming from antiquarian and recent sources and from our new survey and research.

The Accademia Pilot Project, directed by Marina De Franceschini in cooperation with the University of Trento (Italy) concerns the Accademia, one of the lesser known buildings of Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli (Rome, Italy) II century A.D. (see website www.villa-adriana.net).
Methodology/Approach: How were the objectives reached? Which methods were used?
First phase – Collection of previous bibliography and archive documents
Second phase – Survey of visible and standing structures
Third phase – Survey of the structures that are not visible any more
Fourth phase – Remote sensing and Lidar
Fifth phase – Data processing, dissemination and publication of results

  • Antiquarian and recent documentation was the starting point to understand what we were looking for and why
  • Consistent and thorough work on the spot is the only way to achieve significant results
  • Our new survey made the most of information technology, with non destructive methods as Geophysics

Results: What are the results of the work?

  • A complete collection of all previous documentation, plans, descriptions, drawings and pictures
  • The first complete and updated plan of the Accademia since the XVIII century
  • The first reconstruction of subterranean tunnels and other structures unknown in previous literature
  • A state of the art of the building and its state of preservation
  • Thousands of pictures of the site (which is in private property and not open to the public), movies
  • A new understanding of the Accademia and its relationship with the rest of the Villa

What is new and significant about your ideas, methods, and results?

  • Multidisciplinary approach, synergy between different technologies and professions
  • A consistent and rational way to store and retrieve an extensive amount of data
  • New significant discoveries in a site that is almost unknown
  • Our Project an be a model for future research in the Villa

Keywords: Cultural Heritage New technologies applied to archaeology